IN “Post Grad,” Alexis Bledel plays an overconfident college grad ready to take the world by storm. In real life, although Bledel never finished college, she’s still somewhat of a graduate.

Bledel, 27, made her television debut as the overachieving Rory Gilmore on the critically acclaimed dramedy “Gilmore Girls” (she’s pictured right, with co-star Lauren Graham). While the show aired, she also starred as the upper-crust Winnie Foster in the 2002 film adaptation of “Tuck Everlasting” and, later, as the head-over-heels-in-love Lena Kaligaris in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” movies. In short, she’s had enough of the good girl and is hoping that in “Post Grad” she can stretch her wings a bit.

“Rory had a bit of a charmed life — she was supported by her grandparents, and she was sort of an advanced child academically, and she always excelled in school,” Bledel says. “Ryden Malby is a little less perfect than some of the other characters I’ve played,” she say referring to her “Post Grad” character. “She makes mistakes.

“She’s a bit of a mess at certain points, and I like that because it felt more real than some of the more ideal characters I’ve played.”

If it sounds like Bledel can relate to Ryden, too, it’s because she can. Like Ryden, the actress had a plan that took a turn for the unexpected. She knew she wanted to work in the film industry, so after high school she started college at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She began modeling to earn some extra money, and soon after she started acting classes. When “Gilmore Girls” took off in 2000, she dropped out of school and has been acting ever since.

Over the course of the film, though, Ryden begins to realize that what really matters is who you’re with, not necessarily what you’re doing — especially when things aren’t going your way. When she realizes that, she begins to figure out how to approach her career.

“As far as her professional struggles go, she has to learn how to think outside the box and contemplate different possibilities for herself,” Bledel says. Sounds like good advice that Bledel might take herself: In May, she signed with modeling giant IMG, and there are talks that she might reprise her role as the prostitute Becky (a far cry from her good-girl persona) in “Sin City 2,” currently in development.

“When you can’t control your work, you can at least control who you spend time with,” Bledel says. “That can enrich your life when things aren’t going well.”